Mayor de Blasio finally decided, after close to two years in office, to grace the masses with his first town-hall meeting on Wednesday night. Well, some of the masses, anyway.
The neighborhood chosen was Washington Heights. The subject was limited to housing issues, and it was by invitation only.
The following day he honored his mentor, former Mayor David Dinkins, by officially renaming the Municipal Building at 1 Centre Street in his honor. The irony: Dinkins freely held town halls with few if any restrictions.
Dinkins’ predecessor Ed Koch would hold as many as possible because he excelled in that format. Rudy Giuliani did one a month. Mike Bloomberg would do at least a half dozen a year. It was, until now at least, understood that real town halls were part of the job.
I decided I’d attend this momentous occasion to explain to my WABC listeners what was going on. When I arrived, there were about 30 residents of the area waiting outside, having been shut out of the meeting because they didn’t have the proper paperwork. Suddenly de Blasio is keen on demanding Dominican immigrants “show me your papers.” Go figure.
They told me that they wanted to speak not just about housing but the ever-present gang problems that their children face every day and the poor-performing area public schools that their children are forced to go to.
They wanted to know when potholes would be paved over and when streets with swells, bumps and sags would be milled and repaved.
And their No. 1 concern was the large group of homeless and mentally ill people roaming about Washington Heights and Inwood, some of whom are housed at the armory on Fort Washington Avenue and who squat in Fort Tryon Park and Inwood Park.
I walked in and was put through a metal detector by the police of the nearby 34th Precinct. I was then approached by staff of Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, who told me that there was no room in the auditorium but I was welcome to view the proceedings from the third floor where they had an overflow room.
They probably thought I would cop a diva attitude and refuse to go to this off-site location. I agreed and told them to point the way.
They put me in an elevator with four others who worked for the Taxi and Limousine Commission, and as we waited to go up, we talked about the plan to remove TV screens from the back of taxis. The elevator didn’t move. Ten minutes later, a member of the mayor’s security force approached me and asked me to step out.
I waited 15 minutes without explanation until finally two mayoral aides told me that the overflow room was “packed out” and that there was no room for me. They then told me I would have to leave the building and go across the street with the others who’d been rejected.
I have the opportunity on “Good Day Early Call New York” on channel 5 and NY1 every week to voice my opinion. I write op-eds for The Post and my natural bully pulpit is the radio show I host with Ron Kuby on WABC. Don’t cry for me: I get plenty of face and mic time.
But the town-hall meeting is for the people, and the mayor needs to understand that there’s a lot of anger and disappointment in the decisions he has made. And this is just from his supporters! His adversaries’ worst fears about him have come true.
Mr. Mayor, do your job. It requires you not just to meet with your toadies, lackeys and sycophants but to give a chance to all of the people who want to be heard in New York City.
The interests of the people of New York should be more important to you than Iowa, California and Washington, DC. Act accordingly, please.
Curtis Sliwa, founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels, can be heard on the “Curtis & Kuby” show on 77 WABC radio.